Oxfam launches fashion initiative with new shop

Oxfam is urging us to get creative by customising our old clothes.

BY Molly Gunn |
03 June 2009

"It's amazing what happens when you turn an item of clothing upside-down. It transforms," says stylist and designer Fi Doran. "You can stick your legs through armholes or wear a shirt as a skirt. Turned on their head, clothes take on a new lease of life." Clearly, Doran thinks outside the box - a quality that makes her the ideal figurehead for a new fashion initiative by Oxfam. Launching today, "Oxfam DIY" aims to make us see the style potential in reworking second-hand clothes.

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Doran, who designs under the pseudonym "Mrs Jones", isn't a household name but you may recognise outfits she's created: that white hooded dress for Kylie's Can't get you out of my head video, or those glamtastic jumpsuits when pop-rock group Scissor Sisters burst onto the scene. She has also dressed Madonna and The Killers.

"Many of the outfits I've designed for bands and pop stars have come from charity shop clothes, as when starting out they don't have much money but want to look individual. I love having a rummage and seeing what I can come up with - the fun is in creating something marvellous from the mundane," says Doran, who has shopped in Oxfam since she was a child and has customised clothes for as long as she can remember. "In my teens I'd make 'MC Hammer' pants out of old jumpers by wearing sleeves on my legs."

Now Doran is lending her kooky ideas and styling magic to the Oxfam DIY project and, to show us what's possible, has crafted a 30-strong collection of fashion-fabulous clothes by reworking donations she picked up at Oxfam's Wastesaver unit in Huddersfield. Here, one thousand tons of donations land from its shops and drop-off points around the UK each month.

"The collection was created by playing with run-of-the-mill items of clothing. For example, I made a Forties-style dress from sewing two polkadot shirts together, and a jumpsuit by joining up a two-piece suit." The collection will be pcd araded at a catwalk show tonight, and the one-off designs (prices £20 - £200), along with star pieces culled from Oxfam stores nationwide, will then be sold in the dedicated Oxfam DIY store in Camden, north London, and online from Saturday.

But the real aim of the project is for us all to get crafty, too, and have fun transforming the old into something new. Doran will be hosting DIY workshops at the store for those who need a helping hand with sewing skills or inspiration, and has also done step-by-step customising instructions available online. And, to take the idea further afield - literally - Oxfam DIY stalls will be popping up at the Glastonbury and Bestival festivals this summer, with experts on hand to inspire us to get customising.

The project chimes with the current economic climate. With the recession curbing our shopping habits, there's been a surge in people taking up traditional hobbies such as sewing and knitting. Sarah Farquhar, head of retail at Oxfam, who masterminded the DIY project and recruited Doran, says: "Lots of people are looking for a way to express their individuality and stand out from the crowd right now. Our DIY project taps into the current craft trend and is very affordable in these straitened times."

Lauretta Roberts, editor of fashion industry tome Drapers, agrees. "There's an increasing trend for people to customise their clothes. Experimenting with clothes you might find in a charity shop is the perfect way of tapping into that. It is certainly safer than messing around with new clothes - unless you're really talented."

The thought of customising clothes may sound like a daunting task, but it's not just for sewing buffs. Reworking an old item of clothing is actually easier than attempting to make something from scratch, as tricky details like zips are already sewn in. Plus, second-hand clothes cost less than buying new fabric - and if it doesn't go to plan, the money spent still goes to charity.

With over 700 Oxfam stores, and countless other charity shops, around the country, it won't be hard to lay your hands on pieces to get scissor-happy with. That's not to mention the gems lurking in wardrobes that could benefit from being shortened, shredded, embellished, bleached or dyed. Never mind "Make Do and Mend", it's time to "Make Do and Amend."